Ahead of the curve

One could say that our town is SUPER patriotic and can't wait for the actual 4th of July, or that June is just a cheaper month to book fireworks, bands and fire engines. Whatever the reason, this past weekend was the big 4th here in the burg. Once you get used to celebrating early it isn't a big deal. Plus, if you plan well like we did this year, you can do it twice! Friday night was the fireworks here in town. We are lucky enough to have a house where you can see them from the second story windows. You miss a little of the low action, but there are no bugs, no crowds and it is nice and cool. This was the first year Otto has been old enough to stay up. He was very excited. We started out in the library but soon moved to our bed for a better view. Eric has some audio of the whole experience I will get him to share. Otto didn't stop talking the whole time, he was so excited. He stayed up until 10 which is really late for him since he is normally asleep no later than 8:30. He did well staying up late, we could have done without him waking up at 5:55 the next morning. That wouldn't have been as bad if Mette hadn't been up from 2:30 until almost 5 talking in complete sentences, telling us the names of all the animals she knows, the sounds they make and demanding food. She drank and entire container of yogurt before we finally got her back to sleep. But on to more fun stuff... like the boy watching his first fireworks.

Saturday morning is the parade. It is a HUGE parade with every band anywhere close to here marching in it along with many, many local floats and cars. There is much candy thrown for the kids and limited shady spots so we, along with many others, go out on Friday night and put out chairs. For the past three years we have scored a nice spot in the shade very close to the house. I think one of the reasons Otto woke up so early was he was really excited to go to the parade. I can't blame him, it is a lot of fun.

Waiting for it all to begin....
Just the people watching before anything really started was fun for them.
With the closed off streets they get to run around which helps pass the time.
There are big old planes that fly over head and Mette was sure to point them out to everyone. Not that you could miss them, they are VERY loud.
Otto was concerned that if you didn't eat all the candy as it was thrown to you, it would go away. We managed to convince him he could take it home, but some had to be taste tested. Of course.
It took Mette a while to figure out that what people were throwing was candy, but once she did, she was ON it!

Sitting back relaxing waiting for more candy.

The girl and her daddy.

Too cute!

Daddy with the fancy shots.

Just because the day wasn't exciting enough, after naptime we went downtown for the opening of the new bookstore. It is in the building where my old restaurant was which is a bit sentimental for me I will admit. My restaurant was one of three businesses that made up what is now the first floor of the bookstore. It was originally one big hardware store and later made into three smaller units so this is actually taking the building back towards it's original purpose. Originally it did not have the large atrium, but it looks amazing. Complete with a skylight and natural light flooding the main level. You can also see the first escalator in our county in the back. Trust me, that has been the talk of the town for months! While anything that isn't the ever charming Bleu Plate Cafe will always be a bit sad, I have to admit that I couldn't have asked for it to turn into a cleaner brighter space. And one where people will be in and out of all day long. Much better this than a lawyer's office which can happen here on Market Street sadly. I have a lot more pictures of the bookstore but I am saving them for a separate post. They really did a great job of maintaining the integrity of what I consider to be one of the best buildings downtown. I realize I might be biased but it really is an anchor to the town. There were many mixed emotions about bringing a big (the bookstore is now run by Barnes and Noble) store to our independent downtown, but as a former small business owner, I think this will only do good things for the town. In fact just last night we went for a walk with the kids after dinner and it was so much fun to have a place that was open where we could browse around and kill some time. There were lots more people out walking than we normally see, lets hope this helps bring more traffic downtown.

Here is a photo of Mette and I standing where booth #6 was. For those who remember the Bleu Plate, you will know how important the booths were.
Added bonus, I am sporting a new dress made by me. Pretty cute huh!